Monday, February 10, 2014

Blogging friends, not sure how to check for plagiarism? I use Grammarly because copy-cats are lame. Just ask Zelda Fitzgerald, who is quoted as saying: "Mr. Fitzgerald, I believe that is how he
spells his name, seems to believe that plagiarism begins at home."

___________________________________________

My extended family recently congregated
at my brother’s beach house. They have a bookshelf that’s evolved
into a book exchange and since I'd just finished Jodi Picoult’s
Mercy, I left it there in exchange for Andre Dubus
III’s House of Sand and Fog. The book cover didn’t
necessarily entice me but it had street cred; it was a finalist for
the National Book Award for Fiction and #1 on the NYT bestseller list
(it was also an Oprah's Book Club pick in 2000 but I don’t always
see eye-to-eye with O.) so I decided to give it a try.

Overview

The book starts by introducing a
once-respected former colonel by the name of Massoud Behrani. The
colonel and his family have been exiled from Iran after the Iranian
Revolution. He has not been able to establish a career in America so
he works long hours at menial jobs to keep up appearances.

In the next chapter, we learn about
Kathy Nicolo, a recovering addict, who is being evicted from her
bungalow in the California hills—a home long owned by her
family—because of a county bookkeeping mistake.

Their paths cross when Kathy’s house
is put on auction and Behrani spends his life savings to purchase the
house at a fraction of its worth. He views the opportunity as fortune
smiling on him, and plans to flip the house as a means of
establishing himself as a successful real estate investor/business
man.

A third character, Police Deputy Lester
Burdon, comes to Kathy’s house to evict her. Although Burdon is
married with two young children, he and Kathy become romantically
involved.

The forth main character in the book is
the house itself. In fact, the entire plot circles around the
bungalow. The characters get so caught up in their quest for owning
the house that they lose sight of themselves, resulting in a set of
circumstances that go horribly wrong.

The book is written in the first
person, switching between several of the main characters. The use of
a first person POV gives the reader a clear picture of what each
character is going through on a mental and emotional level.

Cultural misunderstandings as well as
exploring the married relationship between the Behranis and the
desperate relationship between Kathy and Lester keep this book moving
forward.

The Good
At first, it seemed obvious who the protagonist and who the
antagonist were but as the book continued, the lines blurred. Dubus
has a gift for presenting two completely different viewpoints; he
transitions from chapter to chapter skillfully using precise language
for each character, and lets the reader decide for himself. Sometimes
I was seduced into an empathetic attraction to one character and a
disgusting revulsion to another and then the tables turned and so did
my sympathies. The author created a believable, involved
psychological portrait of his main characters, shining a light on
their gifts as well as their flaws.

The Bad

Oh the poor, pitiful ending. Listen, as
a fiction writer I know how difficult it is to bring everything to a
satisfying end but to call this ending unsatisfying is giving it far
too much credit. I had a hard time accepting that this was the best
Andre Dubus III could do.

A movie was made from the book, starring Ben Kingsly as Behrani and Jennifer Connelly as Kathy. Good casting choices, but I haven't seen the movie and I'm not sure I will. The story is dark and left me with a feeling of hopelessness.

Thursday, November 21, 2013

My friend and fellow Indie Author Tricia Stewart Shiu has just finished her book "Iron Shinto," the third book in her popular YA Metaphysical Fantasy, Moa
series. I had a chance to interview Tricia, and get a glimpse of her writing process and the inspiration for the Moa series.

How
long did it take you to write "Iron Shinto?"

"Iron Shinto" is the third book in the Moa series. The first two books
took me approximately three months each and "Iron Shinto took me a year
and a month! It is by far the most powerful of the books and is packed
with layers of learning.

I can't wait to read it. What is your writing process?

Because I'm a working mom, I write when and where I can. I have
envelopes with ideas written on them, scraps of paper with story
outlines and I've even used Dragon Dictation to help me remember those
great idea occur while I'm driving.

Ha, that sounds like me. So, how did the story come together?

At the start of each book, I would let the pieces of the story puzzle
and characters come in organically. Sometimes the beginning would pop in
and then suddenly I'd find myself writing something that I guessed
would become the middle. I never edited myself and allowed the thoughts,
characters and story to form naturally. The most incredible parts
happened as I began to piece the story together.
Not everything I wrote was used, but occasionally, I would find that
something I wrote at the very beginning fit perfectly into the story
much later on. I kept a document for these odd pieces and would refer
back to them to see if anything fit.

I love how it all comes together like that. I envy your ability not to self edit along the way, I need to work on that. Tell us the story behind the cover photo and illustrations?

My nine-year-old daughter, Sydney took the cover photos for all three
books and illustrated them, as well. It has been such a joy
collaborating with her, doing book talks and signings and embarking on
this adventure together!

Sweet. What was your personal inspiration for this metaphysical fantasy series?

The series was born from an experience I had in Honolulu, Hawaii. I was
visiting with my in-laws and while napping encountered a Hawaiian spirit
named "Moa." Although skeptical, I asked for proof that I was not
dreaming.
She showed me a picture of a woman I did not know as said my
mother-in-law could not find this woman and she was, essentially a
missing person to her. Moa said her name was Sharon and then I awoke
confused. Why would I see a picture of someone I didn't know and receive
such odd information. I shrugged off my experience as a dream and went
for a walk with my mother-in-law and daughter. As we rounded the corner
of a park, my mother-in-law squealed.
"Sharon!" She cried out. My stomach dropped. This was the woman in Moa's
picture and the name matched, too.
Then she turned to me and explained that she had been looking for her
old friend for 20 years!
I finally decided to chronicle my experiences in "Moa," the first book
in the Moa Series. Then came "Statue of Ku" and finally, "Iron Shinto."

Thanks for your time, Tricia. Good luck with the "Iron Shinto" and the entire Moa Series.

Saturday, September 28, 2013

I've mentioned the group of fiction writers that I'm associated with here before. In case you missed the post, here it is: Short Story Anthology: Crime Gone Wrong. Anyway, we're called DIVA, and we're four gals from different parts of the world who come together to write short story anthologies. As a foursome, we decide on the title of the story collection. Once the title's determined, we go off on our own and write our individual stories based on the title/theme. It's interesting to see how the other Diva gals interpret the title. In any given anthology you might get a dark story and a silly story side-by-side, both with the same theme.

We're always looking for theme/title suggestions so let me know if you think of anything interesting that you'd like a bunch of twisted ladies to write about. :-)And it just so happens that we have another book coming out very soon. Watch this space for details. Happy reading and writing,

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

My friend Cherise wrote a book that I want to tell you about. It's called How I Got Him To Marry Me: 50 True Stories and it’s now
available in eBook form at Barnes and Noble for Nook, Amazon for Kindle, and
Kobo for the Kobo Reader. The paperback will be available April 1 through
Amazon. The eBook should be on iTunes soon. Short Book Description:

He likes it. Now get him to put a
ring on it! Learn from these 50 stories of women who have been there! You don't
have to interview 50 married women to find out how they managed to get that
ring on their finger. The author has done that for you. All 50 were married
after 1990, so this is modern information for our changing times. Read and find
out how you can get him to marry you and not just live together!

LIMITED TIME OFFER: Please see the end of the eBook
to learn how to claim a free paperback copy after you post an honest review!
Limited to the first 25 reviewers at Amazon.com, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, and
iTunes. (226 pages in paperback.)

Excerpt unique to my blog:

When I worked in the office back
in Philly, my plebeian office job took about 8.5 hours a day. When I did my
work online, it took four hours a day, at the most. Now, I've never been the
type to know what to do with my free time, but I had so much of it now that I
joined an anime fan group at a bar in Beijing. (I never go to bars, either.)I befriended guys there who had
similar interests. Now, keep in mind:
1) My American office salary of 42k equaled about 252k in China.
2) I'm not bad looking.
3) I was an intriguing ethnic anomaly there.
4) My employers said my productivity had increased, so they weren't nagging me
to come back to the office.

With those four points there, you
have another recipe for my leaving Cordell. But again, I did not.

Many anime types, there as well
as here, have unconventional interests. One of the girls made Chinese wedding
dresses. They're nothing like the white mainstay frocks you see in the States.
Chinese wedding dresses are short, sexy, and inspired by cartoons. All are
white or in pastel colors. Plus, they're silk. It's cheaper to get silk there,
so Mao-ling had a ton of silk garments.

"How come your stuff is so
cute here?" I asked Mao-ling She looked at me like I was
crazy.

I said, "Cute isn't big
where I live. I think it's the strong, independent woman thing."

"It's always been," she
said, "and people buy it. People buy it where you are, too."

"Really." I challenged.

Mao-ling is an artist and doesn't
have much of a head for business. I'm very organized, but I'm really not all
that creative. She and I split her design business 50/50. I set up store
accounts on eBay and Etsy, and I got a few brick and mortar stores in
Philadelphia to carry her dresses through a friend of mine in PhillyU's fashion
program. After about six months, they were selling beautifully. I think the
reason these clothes sell so well in the States is the same reason men like Asian
girls: they're "cuter" and a bit more delicate, in appearance at
least.

If you count the money I get from
private clients, Chinese stores, and the accessories I sell online, I make
about 20k more per year than I did with my regular job. I also saved about 15k
from that my first few weeks.

I am so much happier as a
business owner than I was as a corporate desk jockey that I became a whole lot
easier to get along with, and Cordell magically found a whole lot more time for
me in his schedule.---------------Want to read more?Amazon.com <<<
paperback, too after April 1, 2013

Monday, February 11, 2013

A good friend and talented writer called me last night to offer
feedback on my recently published short story, The Buckner Brothers. In summary, she said she
liked the story and its unpredictability. She said the pace was good, as was
the rhythm. She particularly appreciated the physical descriptions of the
main characters and the way in which their psychoses evolved.

Then she lowered the boom; she said she had a hard time
visualizing where the action was taking place. The writing lacked a vivid
setting. She wanted more ambience, more environment.

So what did I do? Like any self-respecting writer, I drank
wine through a straw went back and reread the story she was referring to. Then I studied my
WIP. Yep. She’s dead nuts right.

As I looked at my writing through this new lense, it was clear - Ido spill more ink on people than I do on places. Interesting. I went looking for advice from my guru,
Stephen King. In his book about writing, aptly titled On Writing, King differentiates
between two kinds of descriptive writing: the physical description of
characters and the description of “locale and texture” (his words).

I’m feeling halfway okay until I read further. King says descriptions of “locale and texture” are more important to good
writing than are descriptions of people and characters.

Wouldn't you know it.

Digging for details, I landed on this nugget:

Thin description leaves the reader feeling bewildered and nearsighted. Over-description buries him or her in details and images. The trick is to
find a happy medium.

Easy for you to do, Mr. King. But what about fledgling indi authors?

Good description is a learned
skill, one of the prime reasons why you cannot succeed unless you read a lot
and write a lot. Reading will help you answer how much, and only reams of
writing will help you with the how. You can learn only by doing.

Alrighty then, back to the doing. I just hope I don't over-describe the little girl's bedroom in the story I'm writing now. If I do, I trust that my excellent and talented friends will shove me in the right direction. Thanks, Cyndi.

____________________________________________________This post is in response to my friend Linda Ann Nickerson's Superbowl blogging challenge over at Simply Snickers. Pop on over if you want to participate.